CowgirlJane

Great article....thanks for posting.

Sarah it's rugged and the lower body is definitely the big kahuna. Rest alot, drink alot and consume alot of protein. I had 7 drains...traveled home from mexico with 3. They didn't gross me as much as I expected but I came to loathe them over time. I had a lanyard around the neck to hang them on during showers btw. All docs have different protocol but Dr Sauceda had us shower the day after surgery. Of course with nursing care...they would re bandage and re stuff me in the garment. But that meant my first pic was like 24 hours post op. Anyway excited to hear your updates. Plastic surgery is an ass kicker but so worth it.

Sarah!!! Aren't you too excited for words?? You were so lean and fit going in I imagine your results are stunning. I remember when I took my garments off for my first shower my friend cried with joy...tears rolling down her face. I visualize some kind of wow moment for you too. Photos!

My advice. .. don't do 5:2 or similar as part of weight loss phase. When my losses slowed down around 8 months post op I started reducing carbs, eliminating protein bars and then changed workouts to high intensity interval training. My losses went from 2 a month back to 10.

Dr Sauceda tells you the dates to book and he was spot on. I booked round trip and everybody does that. In the Sauceda Facebook group I have never heard of someone needing to change flight plans.

I think it is GREAT and necessary to love thyself at any size, however, it is really strange to me to think that being morbidly obese is a "good thing" for any of us. I am an animal lover, believe in animal rescue, etc but alot of people in organizations like PETA are a bit over the top... so "into" the idea that they lose sight of a larger context. I think the FA movement is like that. To me, some of the people in the fat acceptance movement have taken acceptance to the next... illogical... level which is almost fat promotion.

Ms24 i don't get it either. I frankly didn't have rashes or anything. Spanx solved any extra skin issues really. What was gross to me was sitting on a spin bike and having my belly skin on my lap. Or doing planks or push ups and looking down at that horrible hanging skin. Also i had to wear loose pants to avoid a skin muffin top. Emotionally disturbing. ..but even after losing 150 or more... not medically necessary so i am really surprised at all the insurance coverage people are getting!

Right...but the language used by several people who have posted is full of negative and at times mean spirited connotations. I have lost over 160#, am a normal BMI, have a pretty good level of fitness... All without name calling and implying that my laziness is the problem. I have never been a lazy sloppy or unmotivated person...even when I was obese. I am fine. I have a high level of self confidence so in spite of my protests this isn't about me... it's about others who are in a different place in this journey. Yes take responsibility for your choices but that doesn't include berating people ... and assuming that everyone is eating like 5000 calories a day because they are obese. Once a person has been obese for decades you really don't have to eat huge amounts to maintain that obese status. Obesity does cause metabolic change. I didn't make that up....read up on what the Bariatric and Obesity medical community has to say about this. I am not talking about excuses. . I am talking about positive support and motivation including an understanding of our medical condition called obesity over the "beat down" approach.

Look...Most of us did eat too much but reality is I didn't eat that much more than people around me. I simply need very very little to maintain a healthy weight. I am always shocked by people who say they eat 2500 plus calories in maintenance. ..not me. The more I think about it the more this whole thread strikes me as mean and condescending. I am happy with my body and fitness and don't need the abuse...thanks anyway.

I had the band 10 years and the surgeon gave me a choice. They believed at the time that separate surgeries reduced some of the complication risk but could not show me a published study so I felt it was more anecdotal back in 2011 when I was revised. Band removal included scrapping away scar tissue. When the surgeon did my sleeve he told me he was able to do a good standard sleeve. ..which isn't always the case with revisions. I have been very successful post revision and I suppose the surgical part (size and shape of sleeve) is a big part of that. I have not checked recently if there are studies on this. Have you gone to medline?

I had the band for 10 years...and could have had it removed no problem but I was scared of another surgery. She is misinformed. Reason it takes her 90 minutes to eat is she is eating way way too much and likely vomiting too? food abuser and the band does not fix that. There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about WLS and th is young woman hits the main point. .. There is no magic. YOU have to change. I really think that many of us hear the words. .lifestyles change. .blah blah...sure sounds good but really don't understand the meaning. It is a fundamental shift away from food as entertainment, recreation, comfort, stress reducer etc. It is a focus on moving the body more and eating to sustain that body.

I am such a dolt. Spent the evening on Alki beach and I could have contacted my 5:2 neighbors to join me! Okay me with downtown seattle behind me. [ATTACH]46012[/ATTACH] Reclining at home and noticed a comfortable gap in my new shorts. I knew this group would appreciate the excitement at realizing that all my USA size 4 bottoms fit. Wow. I was 26 or 28W pre sleeve. There was a time when I wore 32W. Hard to fathom. [ATTACH]46013[/ATTACH]

Rooting for you! I was high Bmi too and am now normal weight at 140 i am 5'5" My life time high was 332. I nearly croaked... had been in scale denial and went to weight watchers thinking I was under 300... anyway my sleeve start weight was 308. I lost 150 over 14 months to get to my goal of 158...maintained about 6 months lost 10 more. I now weigh 140. I would have never imagined it possible when I was 300+ but it really is.

Sarah - can't wait to hear from you!

Love the idea of a fitness challenge. Don't love the disparaging name. You know what the truth is - I was morbidly obese. I hate the word obese - I actually somehow find it more troubling then being called a fatty, but it is the correct medical term for my condition. Even though I have lost weight, I still have the disease of obesity - have been forever changed by it physically and will always have the tendency to regain weight (more than people who were never obese). However, that doesn't define who I am as a person and I think that is where the name calling stings. I am first me a person - cowgirljane - I am a mother, a sister, a project leader, a friend, a traveler, a thinker, a writer and a whole lot of other things. Reason some of us are sensitive to this is a lifetime of seeing ourselves as that "fatty" rather than seeing ourselves as a full person. I am at goal (been there awhile) and guess what - even though my physical appearance is completely different, my heart and soul and other talents and traits remain.

Each WLS has pros and cons. None are perfect, none are guaranteed. I had the lapband in 2001 and had to sign a statement acknowledging that the band is temporary and would likely need to be removed. At the time I thought "this is great, I lose weight and then they remove this pesky thing". Well, i clearly did not have a very good handle on managing obesity over a lifetime to be thinking that way. I hear they no longer advertise it as needing to be removed so maybe something is different now. The lapband is just trickier. Some people have tremendous success but wind up revising due to slipping, or port flipping or something like that. Some people like me really didn't have much success with the band because I guess I never found that "sweet spot". I was always hungry and i didn't lose the drive to eat. One thing I have since learned is that I am very carb sensitive so need to eat a certain way to manage hunger, even with the sleeve. I didn't know that back then. Anyway, people who are having success always love their own choice, people who aren't usually don't. I think it is smart to look at studies showing things like excess weight loss maintained at 5 years, how many are revised etc. And ask your surgeon for some of this info too. Personal stories can be misleading. I have lost well over 160# since being revised to the sleeve and currently maintaining at 140#. That however is NOT a typical revision story and it would be misleading to think everybody has that kind of success.... but it is possible and others have done it too.

I am so sorry you are going through this - but I really admire your "don't give up" attitude! I was absolutely devasted, embarrassed and had a certain disbelief about my own failure with the lapband, I was so sure I could make it work and be successful, but after 10 years I weighed significantly more than I did when banded. If it were me, I would want to better understand the "whys". It is true that the RNY has the malabsorptive element, but studies show very little difference in percent of excess weight loss compared to the sleeve. i failed miserably with the band, and I spent a fair amount of time "pondering" the why question. I asked the surgeon and my NUT - why do revisions not do as well? Why do so many not do well on the lapband longer term? What can I do to influence my outcomes? What I learned from that did help me overcome some of the pitfalls that some revisionistas run into. I of course have NO IDEA how come different people have different outcomes and I in no way "blame the patient". I am just sharing how I would consider looking at it. There were several shifts in mindset that I personally had to make - the number one being accepting just how little a woman my age, my genetics (apparently my anscestors survived famines very well) needs to eat. I think when I was banded, I never really "got" it. I thought I was "eating small" but I really wasn't. Also, I had to learn to forget about feeling "full" but rather trained myself to strive for "absence of hunger". Wow. That meant alot in terms of portion size, but also how often I really needed to eat. the final thing I had to adjust to was really understanding the role of sliders and carbs in my previous "failures". Turns out I am pretty carb sensitive and so I don't lose weight (after a certain point) unless I restrict them which isn't particularly fun as carbs are my favorite foods. I am not saying those are your lessons - but they were some of mine. I have to be honest, if I needed to revise due to poor weight loss, I would be considering the DS. It is the highest risk WLS (get a GREAT surgeon) but also statistically the most successful due to significant malabsorption. However, DSers do have a much bigger issue with nutritional defeincies. Ask alot of questions, choose a great surgeon, keep up your great attitude and I know you can make this a success!

A recent thread with my musings on choosing where to maintain over the long haul... http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/312396-maintainingnow-that-you-are-a-few-years-out/

There are vets who post but you are right that many leave. Some just don't need or want it to be a focus anymore but many move on to private groups (Facebook etc) to seek support. This is why I hope we can keep the veterans forum active so people can get meaningful support here.

I am 2.5 years out and at goal. About month 7 my losses slowed to a crawl... like I dropped to losing 2-3# a month and I still had a long ways to goal. Too many carbs.... I eliminated Protein bars and changed my workout to high intensity and I got back on track.. losing more like 8-10 a month to get to goal. I lost 150 over 14 months to get to goal...lost another 18 after getting to goal.

It's more than height. Body type, how much muscle, even how long you were obese plays a role in how "heavy" you look at a given weight. I am 5'5" spent decades in the 250-300 plus weight class and I am big framed (wide shoulders, big ribcage, size 9.5 feet) and I currently weigh 140. I had breast augmentation but my measurements are approx 39-29-36 ... hardly too skinny. I think you would be fine in the 140s but are probably just fine where you are...personal preference.

You know I sorta forgot how...odd...I felt having to have WLS. I mean not just Frankenstein due to the incisions but freakish for having a lapband. I often even denied it..like...lapband wasn't "real" bariatric surgery. Queen of DeNile! !! Life has gone better for me once I recognized that I had a serious illness (obesity), it was getting worse and worse in spite of my treatments (weight watchers, medically supervised diets, Optifast, nutrisystems, lapband etc) and the complications (arthritis, constant pain, sleep apnea, decreased mobility) were sucking the joy out of my life. Once I faced how much it sucked, my level of focus toward making the bariatric surgery ( sleeve) work for me increased expontially... shifted focus away from worrying about scars, lose skin and missing food to worries about saving my life. I am not saving band to sleeve revision is right for everyone but I am saying...don't give up. I failed alot before finding this success. I have many "battles" ahead (maintenance) myself.

I was about 2 weeks post op before I weighed myself... I had gained about 8-9 pounds I think mostly from fluid/swelling. I floated around in the 5-8 pounds higher for months... It was probably 4-5 months post op before my weight reflected the 5.5# of skin removal. My appetite went through the roof after plastics.... increased need for fuel for healing. I had to work hard to eat Protein and not let my eating get out of control. Some people gain weight due to appetite. I am a bit surprised how much you gained, but, Fluid is amazingly heavy!

fye - your dad looking to adopt any new children? My 4th plans involve staying home to keep my dogs from going crazy and my horses from running through a fence once the air attack begins in earnest. I am outside any city limits so we get lotsa boom boom. tino invited me to go out on Lake Washington on his boat and watch fireworks... sounds fun, right? With the pack of 12-13 year olds! Now, they are a fun group but I want adult time and it is too early in our relationship for me to to take on some kind of role as "dad's girlfriend" so i am backing out of that one. Besides.... horses and dogs.... My friend Mary invited me to bring my dogs to her place and hang out with some friends for the day (she runs a doggie daycare and often hosts doggie parties!) but... the horses. Florinda - what neighborhood of Seattle did you land in?

I understand the desire for people to get their own personal answers to their own personal questions.... so I just ignore many of the repeated questions figuring others will answer, but I do try to stay on the band to sleeve revisions and the plastic surgery ones. It is a serious concern though of maintaining an environment that people stay around longer term because that is a real benefit to all of us. Part of it is that people frankly don't understand some things that they personally have not been through. For example, I was sharing something I had experienced, as someone who has been maintaining for awhile now, and I was accused of having an eating disorder because I was "hypersensitive" to criticism of the way I eat. WTF? Another time I was accused of being a bully for disagreeing with a factually incorrect statement relating to plastics in Mexico. I know that people newly sleeved and in the honeymoon phase, rolling along, think they got it all figured out - but truth of the matter is that as time goes on, your experiences and challenges evolve and change. I try to not take it personally. The more time goes on, the less I know - that's for sure. Back in the 2000 timeframe, when I was a lapband person (called Bandsters in those days!) the vet forum was HIDDEN on the support group site I frequented. It was a terrible situation for newbies - if I had access to that vet site before I was banded, I would have never done it. It wasn't till I was a year out and having complications that I realized how many people had my same problems. I hope that we can continue to have a vets forum here that is actually for vets to discuss vets issues (and not "ask a vet") otherwise people go underground and off to private/hidden support groups and everybody loses.... When Vets' conversations are visible to everyone, but the vets feel free to discuss and are supported by other vets - newbies learn from what they read while vets still have a meaningful support system. (oh yes, I have also been told off in a pretty hostile way for explaining the guidelines for posting in the vets forum too. Now, if a newbie post shows up in the vet forum I just move it and don't waste my time trying to be nice about it.)